As rescuers searched for victims and survivors of devastating Himalayan glacial floods that crashed down on the Nepal-Tibet border in August 2026, social media posts falsely claimed a video showed the disaster's aftermath. The footage in fact comes from a behind-the-scenes video of the Indonesian TV show "Lautan Cinta", which was shared in July 2026.
"After the earthquake and tsunami in Nepal, is there anything left but rubble — or is there hope?" says the Hindi-language caption of a Facebook video shared on August 28, 2026.
The video depicts a woman and child wandering through the debris-strewn aftermath of a flooded countryside, with bodies lying in shallow muddy water. At the end of the 43-second-long video, the child is shown smiling directly at the person filming.
It circulated after a tsunami-like wall of freezing water and mud crashed down on the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, burying homes, smashing bridges and sweeping away vehicles ( archived link).
The US Geological Survey says the disaster was caused by a glacial collapse that triggered a vast flow of icy debris.
At least 1,003 people were killed in the glacial floods, according to figures from Nepal and China, with nearly 4,500 reported missing ( archived link).
Screenshot of the false post captured on August 31, 2026, with a red X added by AFP
The footage was also shared in similar Facebook and Instagram posts.
"Oh God, keep the children safe," reads a comment on one of the posts, while another says: "God, please protect us."
The circulating video, however, is unrelated to the disaster on the Nepal-Tibet border.
A reverse image search using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage posted on Instagram on July 3 ( archived link).
Its Indonesian-language caption says: "Spending hours in the water, pushing through exhaustion until our feet turned white from the cold — everything was done with total dedication to bring you the very best story."
"Thank you to everyone who has poured their heart into this. Don't forget to watch 'Lautan Cinta', every day at 6:20 pm, WIB, only on SCTV," it adds.
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and the July 3 Instagram video
Subsequent keyword searches found that " Lautan Cinta" — "Sea of Love" in English — is a TV show that airs on Indonesia's SCTV television network (archived here and here).
